Overview

OneSignal is a developer-focused platform designed to facilitate user engagement through various communication channels. Established in 2014, the service provides tools for implementing mobile push notifications, web push notifications, in-app messaging, email, and SMS. This multi-channel approach allows applications to reach users across different touchpoints, aiming to improve retention and re-engagement rates.

The platform is engineered for developer-friendly integration, offering a suite of Software Development Kits (SDKs) and a REST API. These SDKs support a range of popular development environments, including native Android and iOS, cross-platform frameworks like React Native and Flutter, and game engines such as Unity and Godot. This broad compatibility enables developers to integrate OneSignal's messaging capabilities into diverse application types without extensive custom development for each channel.

OneSignal is suitable for applications ranging from early-stage startups to large enterprises. Its infrastructure is built to handle significant messaging volumes, and the platform includes features for audience segmentation, A/B testing, and message personalization. These capabilities assist developers and marketing teams in delivering targeted content to specific user groups, optimizing message effectiveness, and analyzing engagement metrics. The service also emphasizes compliance with data privacy regulations such as GDPR and CCPA, and maintains SOC 2 Type II certification, addressing security and privacy concerns for organizations operating globally.

For example, a mobile e-commerce application might use OneSignal to send a push notification about a new product launch, follow up with an in-app message offering a discount to users who viewed the product but didn't purchase, and then send an email reminder if the item remains in their cart. This coordinated communication strategy across channels aims to guide users through the customer journey and encourage specific actions.

Key features

  • Mobile Push Notifications: Send targeted notifications to iOS and Android devices, supporting rich media and interactive buttons. The OneSignal SDKs abstract the complexities of Apple Push Notification service (APNs) and Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM).
  • Web Push Notifications: Deliver notifications to users' browsers even when they are not actively on the website, supporting major browsers like Chrome, Firefox, and Safari.
  • In-App Messaging: Display customizable messages directly within the application interface, useful for onboarding new users, promoting features, or delivering contextual alerts.
  • Email Messaging: Integrate email campaigns into cross-channel strategies, allowing for consistent branding and messaging alongside push and in-app communications.
  • SMS Messaging: Send transactional or promotional SMS messages for critical updates or time-sensitive offers, complementing other communication channels.
  • Audience Segmentation: Create dynamic user segments based on device attributes, user behavior, custom tags, and more, enabling highly targeted messaging campaigns.
  • A/B Testing: Test different message copy, call-to-actions, and delivery times to optimize engagement rates and campaign performance.
  • Real-time Analytics: Monitor delivery rates, open rates, and conversion metrics through a dashboard to evaluate campaign effectiveness and inform future strategies.
  • Automated Messaging: Set up automated message delivery based on user actions, time-based triggers, or other predefined criteria, such as abandoned cart reminders or welcome sequences.
  • Comprehensive SDKs: Provide libraries for a wide array of platforms including native mobile (Android, iOS), cross-platform (React Native, Flutter, Cordova, Xamarin, MAUI), and game engines (Unity, Godot), simplifying integration.
  • REST API: Offer programmatic access to send messages, manage users, and retrieve data, allowing for custom integrations and workflows beyond the dashboard. For detailed API usage, refer to the OneSignal REST API reference.

Pricing

OneSignal offers a tiered pricing model, including a free tier suitable for initial development and smaller projects, and paid plans that scale with subscriber count and feature requirements. Pricing details are subject to change; the table below reflects information as of May 2026. For the most current pricing, developers should consult the official OneSignal pricing page.

Plan Name Key Features Subscriber Limit Starting Price (per month)
Growth Basic push, in-app messages, email, limited analytics Up to 10,000 Free
Professional Advanced segmentation, A/B testing, email, SMS, expanded analytics Starts at 10,001 $99
Enterprise Dedicated support, custom compliance, advanced security, HIPAA BAA Custom Contact Sales

Common integrations

OneSignal provides SDKs and APIs designed for integration into various development stacks and platforms. Some common integration points include:

Alternatives

  • Braze: A comprehensive customer engagement platform offering advanced segmentation, journey orchestration, and multi-channel messaging.
  • Iterable: A growth marketing platform providing personalized user engagement across email, push, in-app, SMS, and other channels.
  • Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM): Google's free service for sending push notifications to Android, iOS, and web applications, often used in conjunction with other Firebase services.

Getting started

To begin integrating OneSignal, developers typically add the relevant SDK to their project and initialize it with their application ID. The following example demonstrates a basic setup for a web application using the OneSignal Web SDK to prompt for push notification permissions and send a test notification.

First, include the OneSignal SDK script in your HTML <head>:

<head>
  <!-- Other head elements -->
  <script src="https://cdn.onesignal.com/sdks/web/v16/OneSignalSDK.page.js" defer></script>
  <script>
    window.OneSignal = window.OneSignal || [];
    OneSignal.push(function() {
      OneSignal.init({
        appId: "YOUR_ONESIGNAL_APP_ID",
        safari_web_id: "YOUR_SAFARI_WEB_ID", // Required for Safari
        notifyButton: {
          enable: true,
        },
      });
    });
  </script>
</head>

Replace "YOUR_ONESIGNAL_APP_ID" and "YOUR_SAFARI_WEB_ID" with the actual IDs from your OneSignal dashboard. This setup initializes the SDK and displays a bell icon for users to subscribe to push notifications. After a user subscribes, you can send test notifications from the OneSignal dashboard or programmatically via the OneSignal Send Notification API endpoint.